Promise
by Lluvia-the-Wolfgirl
Summary: Make me a promise, that you'll always come back to me. WILL NEVER BE UPDATED
1. chap1

"You promise you'll be there at the station?" She asked again.

"Yes. I'll be there to meet you when you arrive, okay?"

"You promise?"

"Yes! Come on Winry! This is the tenth time already!"

"If I don't pound it into your head, then you'll forget and bury yourself in the library and then I'll be on my own again! Or even worse, you'll get into another fight, and break your automail! Again!"

"Uncute automail freak."

"Shut up alchemy freak!"

Ed opened his mouth to say something else, but a hissed "Nii-san!" distracted him. He turned to see Al pointing to the clock.

The clock read 12:30.

Ed stared at the clock in disbelief for a few seconds, then groaned.

"Ed, what's-"

"Listen Winry, we've got to go now!"

"Don't forget to be at the train station at 9:30!"

"I won't! Bye!"

Ed dropped the phone back into the cradle and dashed out the door, followed by Al.

"Aw crap! Crap! How could I not notice? I just know what that stupid Colonel's going to say!

"What Fullmetal," he started imitating Mustang's voice, "was the clock too high up for you to see? Or were you mistaken for a pre-schooler and carried away there? Or-"

"Nii-san, don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?"

"No! I just know he'll say something like that!"

"That's what you said last time, but I don't remember him saying anything like that."

"That's because you were busy with that kitten you found!"

"Oh, that's right." Al avoided bumping into a woman with her arms full of groceries. His brother seemed calmer now. Maybe he should ask...

"Hey...Nii-san?"

"What?"

"Why do you always fight with Winry?"

Ed tripped and fell on his face.

"What kind of question is that!" he asked, picking himself up.

Al stopped beside him.

"Why do you? And why do you always insist that she's not cute?"

Ed looked like he was ready to protest some more, but he heard the sincerity in Al's voice.

He sighed.

"I don't know."

He looked down, frowning slightly.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me this?"

"Uhh..." Al looked away. This was mostly a reflex move, seeing as his metal face couldn't betray his expressions even if he wanted it to.

_What do I tell him? "Well, Nii-san, the reason I'm asking is because I have a feeling that the reason you keep insisting she's not cute is because you're trying to convince yourself."_

Al shook his head.

_Definitely can't tell him that._

"What are you thinking about?"

"Uh, nothing!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! Um...aren't we even more late now?"

"...Drat it!"

As the two started running again, Al thought ,_You know Ed, you're going to have to admit it sooner or later._

_------------------------------------------------------ _

She stumbled against the brick wall, and almost fell, only saving herself by clutching the wall, like a drowning person to a lifeline.

She stood there panting, wincing both at the pain and at the bright afternoon sunlight that was burning her eyes.

Slowly, carefully, she lowered herself down, fingers burning from gripping the gritty wall for support. Once she was close enough she simply let go, gratefully dropping into a spot that wasn't covered with garbage.

She bumped her head on the way down, and groaned before she realized what she'd done.

Clapping her hand over her mouth, she looked up and down the dirty alleyway.

When no one came, she sighed from relief.

She looked down at herself, at the faded brown boots, once so smart and neat, now filthy, covered with mud, and wearing thin.

She looked at her green pants, just as worn out and filthy, and beneath them...

Carefully, she rolled up her pant leg.

The gash from the arrow was still there, but instead of looking better, it looked even worse.

She wiped away some blood with her stained glove, and looked at it for a moment, before tenitiviely tasting it.

Poison.

Wolf bane, if she was right.

She sighed and rested her head against the wall.

Nothing to do now but wait.

She thought back to the reason she'd run into woods in the first place. That girl with the short black hair.

She'd only seen her for a moment, but she looked so much like her...so much like...

"Lin," she mumbled under her breath, "I'm sorry...about our promise...maybe one day...you'll be able...to do it by yourself."

"**YOU IDIOT!"**

The archer, apparently thinking she meant him, fired another arrow.

She dodged this one too, and threw one of her daggers, making the archer fall from the branch he'd been hiding on.

She smirked, and raced over to pick up her dagger, not wanting to lose another one.

She glanced over at the fallen archer's quiver.

She picked up one of the arrows.

She sniffed it, then scowled.

Poison.

She wasn't sure, but she thought it might be wolf bane.

_I wish Rae was here. She would known._

She smiled half-heartedly at that thought.

_Of course Rae didn't like poisons, she liked the cures._

A whirring sound alerted her to the presence of the archer's friends, and she took off again.

She tripped and tumbled down a hill, cursing all the way.

Reaching the bottom, she shot up and took off running again, not daring to look behind her, the whirring of the arrows proof enough that they were still behind her.

She noticed a small cave opening, almost completely covered up with vines and long grasses.

She smirked again.

_Good thing I'm an expert at spotting hiding places. I bet those stupid archers won't notice it._

She spun around, hand in her pockets.

The archers stopped for just a moment, wanting to know what she had up her sleeve.

She pulled out a small round ball and threw it on the ground in front of her.

Smoke burst out of it, completely covering everything.

Long before it was starting to clear, she was far inside the cave.

She paused further in, and listened.

When she heard no footsteps, she grinned cockily and whispered to herself, "And she does it again!"

Sighing happily, she sat down and started going through her backpack.

"Let's see...someone's sword... that purse I just stole... a butterfly knife...a big white t-shirt?"

She frowned slightly at this, and pulled it up, examining it. "Why'd I steal this?" she asked herself, then shrugged and put it down, and went back to searching the backpack, until she found what she was looking for.

A small brownish yellow crystal.

"A-hah! I found it!" she cried triumphantly, tossing it in the air and then catching it again.

As soon as it touched her hand, it began to shine brightly.

She smiled even wider and stood up.

She looked ahead, to the tunnel leading further inside the cave, and frowned thoughtfully.

_It seems to be the kind of place she'd hide...I hope I'm right. She's probably already jumped to the next world by now, and I have to find the portal before it closes!_

She glanced once at the opening of the cave.

The sunlight glinted cheerfully at her, as if inviting her to come back out and play.

She sighed and headed further into the dark cave, the light stone guiding her path.

"Rae?" she called, "Rae? It's me, Lin! Rae?"

_Why'd she run away? Didn't she see that it was me?_

_Maybe that's the problem._

_Why! Doesn't she trust me?_

_Maybe she thinks you haven't forgiven her for-_

She gagged the voice.

"I don't want to think about that!" she snapped out loud.

Fuming silently, she kept walking forward, still looking.

_Anyway, I'm glad he's gone. Really. I always hated his guts anyway. He was always a jerk. I'm glad. Really glad._

This didn't sound convincing, even to her.

She was about to try to think of ways to make it more impressive, when she saw it.

The light, the brilliant multicolored light.

The light of the portal.

Forgetting everything else, she broke into a run.

The glow was beginning to fade.

She was running out of time.

She ran even faster, and dove through it, just before it closed.

Yes, I'm rewriting the entire thing. Hope this time, it's better. By the way, if anyone can tell of a site where you can still see the fan dubbed version of FullMetal Alchemist, or a site where I could download the songs, I'd be really grateful.


	2. Chap2

Winry looked through the train window, her suitcase on her lap and her wrench clutched comfortingly in her hand.

The farms of Resembool had quickly been left behind, and now she could only see empty plains, and now and then, a lonely house or two.

The sun was setting, and the sky was beginning to turn a dark shade of purple.

She shifted slightly.

_This is my first time on a train when I'm alone. There was always someone with me before. But this time, not only is there no one traveling with me, there's no one else in the car. It's rather...lonely._

_These benches are really comfortable, though. _

Winry checked her watch.

_I've been here for hours now._

She sighed, and looked back at the window

_I want to be there already. I want to see them again._

The clacking of the wheels and humming of the engine were having a soothing effect. Winry's eyes were beginning to flutter.

_Well, it will be hours before I get there anyway. I guess I should get some rest now._

Her eyelids fluttered for a few seconds, then shut.

Her wrench slipped out of her hand, landing with a thump on the ground.

Her eyes fluttered, but she didn't move.

The wheels of the train clacked along, and for a while, everything was still.

Then, without warning, a silent explosion of multi-colored light appeared where she was sitting.

It lasted for a few seconds, then vanished.

And the sleeping Winry vanished along with it.

The portal dropped Lin out in midair. She fell to the wooden floor with a thump.

Muttering a curse word under her breath, she sat up and began to look around.

She could hear wheels clacking, and it looked like she was in a strange sort of room, that had benches on both sides of the room, like in a schoolhouse.

But it was like the room was moving.

Lin looked out the window, and sure enough, she could see the landscape going by. She didn't want to even think about what kind of monster it would take to pull a big room like this. And she thought she saw more rooms, being pulled along behind and before the room she was in.

_You're not thinking about this_! She told herself sternly as the image of some half-naked super-muscular demon-guy pulling this weird room and others like it along came into her head, _you aren't thinking about this! _

She looked out the window again. It was night, or at least early morning, which was kind of funny, considering that it had been late morning in the world she'd just left.

She turned away from the window, and moved to start walking down the aisle, only to trip over something hard and metal and hit her head on the edge of the seat. Rubbing her head she glared at the offending piece of furniture then glanced to see what she tripped over. She squinted.

_Drat this darkness!_

The moonlight lit the tops of the benches and some of the floor, but the wall the window was set in, hid the spot that she was staring at.

Lin sighed, pulled her backpack off and reached in, her fingers searching for the familiar roughness of the light stone, and trying to avoid cutting herself on any sharp objects she'd stashed in there.

Finally she pulled it out and shined it over the object.

It was a tool of some sort. She'd seen people from other worlds fiddling around with similar tools

Lin couldn't remember the name of it, though she had a feeling it might start with a w.

Wench?

She snickered. That was defiantly not it. It was something close though.

Wrench?

Yeah, that was it.

But where there was an object, there was always an owner.

But the car was empty.

Lin shrugged and stuffed the wrench in her back.

Finders keepers.

It was a dog eat dog world. You took what you could, and all that.

She stopped for a second, as her fingers discovered something smooth and wooden inside the backpack. She froze.

_Didn't I...?_

She pulled it out.

A smooth, wooden scabbard, with little declaration.

Only an engraving,

_To the only man-_

With a strangled yell, she threw it with all the strength she could muster.

It sailed through the window, with a crash, throwing tinkling glass down on the floor.

At the end of the car, behind the door, someone called and put their hand on the knob and started to turn.

Not stopping to think, she jumped out the already broken window, wanting to be gone, not wanting to stay for prying questions and delaying concern.

She hit the ground running, barely scooping the sword in its wooden scabbard.

There was the lights of a town up ahead. She headed for that.

Once inside the city limits, she stopped, leaned against the wall and gasped for breath.

_Focus on your breathing, just focus on your breathing, _but her manta didn't work this time, and she found her gaze drawn to the sword. She was gripping so tight, her knuckles were white and her hand was beginning to hurt.

_How? How? I could've sworn- no, I know I threw it away! I knew and then I gave it away! What?_

"_I just want to protect you."_

She gasped, and moved back as if to throw it again, but then hesitated.

"Hey you!"

She turned around.

"Yeah, what do you want?"

A man in a blue uniform beckoned to her, and she reluctantly went closer, but stayed an arm's length away.

"What do you want?" She asked again.

"Why are you carrying around that sword?"

She looked at him blankly for a few minutes, then smiled.

"Oh, no reason. Hey, do you want this?"

"What?" he asked, clearly thrown off balance.

She entered persuasive mode.

"I don't need it. Surely you can use it? I mean," she glanced at the gun in his hands. It wasn't pointed at her, but she should still be careful. Better safe than sorry. Looking away from the guy, she noticed the uncertain and unfriendly look of the man.

She wet her lips before containing.

"I mean," she said again. _Repeating yourself is a sigh of fear, which is a sign of guilt! Control yourself! _

"I'm not gonna use it anytime soon. But you," she glanced again at his uniform. Yup, defiantly military style. The gun was a hint that was hard to miss too. "You might actually have a chance to use it! Don't you think it's a waste for this to just stay at home, collecting dust up on the self?"

The man nodded warily, but he was looking at the sword.

Lin smiled again, knowing she'd already won.

"So, do you want it?"

He tore his gaze away from the sword, and looked at her. Then he looked down at the sword again. When he looked up, he was decided.

"Alright, I'll take it."

Lin grinned and held it out.

He took it slowly, military training probably kicking in.

But he took it.

She smiled triumphantly, then turned to walk away.

_Hah! It can't follow me now! I'm free!_

Walking around, head high shoulders out, she began to hum.

But even in her good mood, habit took over, and she began observing the town and filing away details in her head.

It was a pretty impressive city, to her eyes anyway. Most of the buildings were taller than she was used to, and they were made of stone too.

She ran a hand over the nearest wall and grinned.

_Back home, most people have homes made of wood. Come to think of it, I bet the only home in aoployn that was made of stone was ours, and that's only because Dad-_

She stopped suddenly and stared at nothing for a minute, before hunching her shoulders and walking on.

_Okay Lin, come on, focus, focus. Alright, Rae must be around here somewhere. _

She looked around again, not many people around, thank goodness. When she found Rae, it would make it easier to catch her.

But-

She realized it was louder up ahead.

Lin turned a corner and found herself in the middle of a huge crowd.

Bright lanterns were strung overhead, and banners hung from the sides of buildings.

Lin groaned.

_Just my luck. There's a party going on._

The banners hanging above her head read, "Central's 100th Birthday!"

_Central...that's the name of this town, right? _she thought, as she started walking again_, so they're celebrating this city's birthday? That's neat. Too bad we never did that. _

She glanced around at the people celebrating, and smiled.

It's just like the caranvels back home.

Lin walked up to a fruit stands, and, when the owner wasn't looking, swiped an apple and walked away, just mingling with the crowd.

People laughed, joked, sang, flooding around her in a human sea, passing in a blur of faces and colors.

Taking a bite of the apple, she smiled even more.

_I think I like this city. _

And then she saw her.

She was barley a speck of blue, but she was close enough that Lin could see her long black hair.

Dropping the apple, she sprinted, ran full out towards that black dot, mentally giving thanks that she was staying still, ignoring the voice in the back of her mind that nagged at her, telling her that something was wrong, that-

CRASH!

"Watch were you're going!" bellowed Lin, grabbing her head.

"YOU watch where you're going!" retorted the person she'd crashed into.

The ringing in her head subsiding somewhat, Lin lowered her hand and examined them. It was a blond boy, who was rather short, with gold eyes. His clothes seemed to be well made.

Was he rich? Lin wondered briefly, but pushed it the back of her mind, as the boy spoke up again.

"Well, I'm waiting for an apology!"

"Why should I apologize? You're the one who bumped into me!"

They glared at each other, each waiting for the other to crack..

"Nii-san," came a voice from nearby.

The boy started slightly, then turned to look.

Slightly curious, Lin did too.

There, coming towards them, was a tall man in armor.

_Armor? _Lin blinked. _I thought, since this world was more focused on technology, they, like most other worlds advanced enough to make something like those moving rooms back there, would have stopped using armor long ago. And why is he wearing it here? He's not fighting right now. Is he coming from or going to a duel?_

Lin shook her head.

_It doesn't really matter_, she thought, _although..._

She studied the armor more throughly.

_It's a nice piece of craftsmanship. I wonder how well it'd be guarded...nah._

_Wait a minute! why am I still here! I need to- _Lin spun around, only to have her wrist grabbed by a steady hand.

She turned back to face the blond boy, who had, up until now been busy talking to the man in the armor.

"Hey, let me go!"

"Not a chance! you're not going away until you apologize to me!"

"Not in a million years!" Lin yelled, and tried to break away.

But he held fast and she tried again, this time breaking towards the thumb, as she was always taught to do, putting the pressure on the thumb. But it didn't work, she tried again and again.

_No way, what is this guy? Is he a monster? A demon?_

She jerked her head around again, the black-haired girl was almost of sight.

Desperate, she tossed her pride out of the window and yelled, "Alright, alright! I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry!"

The surprise made him loosen his grip, and, not waiting for a better chance, she broke his grasp and ran.

Ed stared after the blacked haired girl.

"Hey Al, what just happened here?"

"She seemed scared of something," Al observed, "maybe you shouldn't have been so rough on her, Nii-san."

"I don't think she was afraid of me, Al. I don't think that she was so much afraid of something, as afraid it would get away from her."


	3. Chap3

Lin ducked through the crowd, desperately trying to keep the speck of black hair in sight. She ducked and wove and sprinted, forgetting everything, her tiredness, her hunger, and her rage at the short squirt that had delayed her.

Everything blurred to the sides, and she saw nothing but that moving spot of black.

"Wait!" She called, "please wait!"

They didn't hear, they kept walking.

Desperate, she yelled, "Hey you! You in the purple!"

_Purple? _a voice in the back of her mind asked, _I thought Rae was wearing a blue jacket..._

But her mind demanded that the voice shut up, because she was slowing down, she was tearing around-

It wasn't Rae.

It was just some girl who looked a bit like her, being tall, with black hair.

"Yes?" she asked.

Lin stopped and just stared at her.

_It's not her. it's... not-_

"Sorry. I thought you were...someone else."

"Oh, that's okay. I hope you find who you're looking for!" she waved and walked away.

"Yeah, bye." Lin mumbled, kicking a piece of trash that was lying near her foot.

She began to walk again, this time with her head drooping and her feet shuffling.

As she had noticed before, the buildings were tall, and in good shape, and the people were smiling.

But Lin didn't notice this now.

She looked up and saw that she couldn't see the stars, because the buildings were so tall and the lights so bright.

She looked at the people and thought that they looked like jerks, and they were probably laughing at her.

Lin found herself at an intersection, and began to cross it, through she barley noticed.

Suddenly, for the second time that night, she bumped into someone, sending both of them tumbling backward onto the ground.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" she yelled.

The person she'd bumped into, a tall man with white hair, just looked at her, made a sort of grunting noise, and started to stand up.

Incensed, Lin jumped up.

"Hey, don't ignore me! Old man! Jerk!"

He sighed.

"Just get out of my way. I don't want to deal with you."

Lin growled and moved forward, only to be startled into jumping back, a pair of brightly lights blending into each other, and a loud honking noise.

They both leaped out of the way, which left them standing on the opposite sides of the street, the thing roared past, taking her breath away, it was so close air rushed off it to meet her.

The two of them stood in the street, panting.

"That ..was close." Lin said, sighing.

The man gave a small nod, then said, "I don't like this place."

Lin chuckled softly, "I don't either. Nice to see that we agree on something."

He glanced up and down the street.

"We should get out of the road."

"Oh, right!"

She leapt up to the sidewalk, balancing on the edge.

When she looked back, the man was gone.

Lin shrugged, and started walking again.

_It really doesn't matter, I still need to find Rae._

It was night when Rae woke up.

before trying to get up, she tried to pull herself together, to evaluate her condition.

Her mouth and face felt numb, and when she shifted, her stomaugh protested, and she found herself on her hands and knees.

Panting, she pushed herself up, only to sway, and fall back on the wall.

When she blinked, she realized how blurry everything looked, and that it was all colored yellow green.

She stepped forward again, and slipped and fell, into a mud puddle that covered her with its filth.

Rae lay still, wondering how much longer she had left, groaning at how cold, how horribly cold the water felt against her cheek.

Someone spoke nearby.

Startled, she hurriedly pushed herself up.

She swayed, nearly falling back into the puddle, but managed to steady herself by leaning on the alley's gritty brick wall,

She was once again thankful for her gloves and her large, oversized clothes that covered most of her body. Not only did they hid her from prying eyes, it saved her skin from feeling the wall too well. She was in enough pain as it was.

Another voice sounded nearby and she forced herself to step forward, fighting her legs.

"I can't...let anyone...touch me...I can't let anyone else be hurt." she whispered weakly.

"Do you regret your choice?" came a quiet voice head of her.

Rae slowly lifted her hand to see a woman materialize out of the shadows.

She stood tall, shrouded by the shadows, her dark skin helping her blend in, so that only her pale moon-silver hair and red hair could be seen clearly.

Rae stared at her for a few seconds, then let her head hang.

"No," she said quietly, "I still saved her...and even if...I have to...live for all...of eternity with this curse and this blessing...I still...I still saved her. I know it's selfish,... but even with... this guilt...even with what happened to him... I still saved her...if she...if she had..."

Her gloved fist clenched.

"No, even now, I wouldn't change my choice."

Something close to a sad smile flitted across the woman's face, but it vanished at the sound of a voice coming closer.

She turned her head toward the shadow-filled corners of the alley and whispered,

"Keep walking ahead child, keep walking ahead."

and then vanished as quickly as she had come.

Night had arrived, shadows were falling, the stars were glowing, and Alphonse Elric couldn't sleep.

Not that that he could really sleep anyway.

But usually, he was content to force his armored body into a too-small bed, talk with Ed for a while, and then lie awake in the darkness while Ed snored softly.

But tonight, he just couldn't stay still. Maybe it was the fact that Ed had been rather worn out by the celebrations, and had fallen asleep faster than usual.

So, Al had slipped out of the room and went for a walk.

The celebration was over, and most of the people had gone home.

Al passed a couple people on their way home and was greeted by them in various friendly ways. He responded politely but warmly, and they went on their way. H**_e_** came to the main plaza.

As he approached, he realized he could hear shouting.

As he entered, he saw a girl, with short black hair punching a wall.

She then winced and massaged her hand, all the while mumbling things under her breath.

"Um, can I help-" Al started to say, the girl swung around to face him, and he realized that this was the girl who had bumped into Ed earlier.

"Hey, it's you." She realized it too, apparently, "Where's that small guy you were with?"

Al, out of habit, glanced over his shoulder to make sure Ed hadn't heard that before realizing he was still back at the inn, and that was the whole point of the question.

"Ouch!"

The girl was massaging her hand again.

"That must be pretty painful." Al observed.

"No duh." snapped the girl.

Al winced, then looked around.

There was a fountain in the middle of the plaza, full of water.

Al walked over to it, pulled out a piece of chalk and quickly drew an array.

The girl was looking at him, probably wondering what he was doing.

Al activated the array.

There was a flash of light, and a small block of ice sat on the edge of the fountain.

Al picked it up, wrapped in a banner that happened to be lying nearby, and handed it to her.

"Here," he said, "this should help."

She stared at him, surprised, and then smiled and took it.

"Thanks."

She sat down, with her back to the side of the fountain.

She sighed, then looked surprised when Al sat down next to her.

"Um, I know it's probably none of my business," He began, "So you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but...why did you punch that wall?"

She looked at him, then sighed again, this time in a slightly irate way.

"Because," she said, "I am...angry, unhappy, dissatisfied, and severely ticked off."

"Why?"

"Because my sister is missing!

She's run away, and I can't find her! No matter where I go, no matter whom I ask, I still can't find her!"

"What does she look like?" Al asked.

"Um...she's tall, taller than I am, with black hair like mine, only longer, and gray-blue eyes. People say they look like the sea but I wouldn't know, because I've ever seen it yet.

Why do you want to know?"

"Well, hopefully Nii-san and I won't have to leave for a few days, so we could help you look for a while."

She stared at him as he continued talking,

"Also, since she's missing we could tell the police."

"No, that's okay, we don't need to tell the police!" Lin said quickly.

Al looked at her. He was going to ask her why, but he saw the sincere, worried look on her face.

Al sighed.

_Well, she must have her reasons._

"Okay, if you say so. I'd still like to help you though."

Her head dropped even further down.

"Thanks," she said miserably, "but I've been chasing her forever, it seems, and if I can't find her..."

She looked down at her feet, and shut her eyes.

Al looked at her then stood up.

"You know," he said, "Central may look really big, but it's actually not that big! And if there's two of us, that makes it even smaller. And-"

"But I'm not sure how long she'll stay in here!" She said, jerking her head up.

"Well, Nii-san and I are going to have to leave in a couple days, but we'll keep an eye out for her! And we travel pretty much all over the place, so we'll be in the same city, sooner or later."

She looked at him in disbelief, and then she laughed.

"You're a hopeless optimist!" she said, and smiled at him, "I'm glad I meet you tonight." She held out her hand, **"**Catalin Attlins is my name. Call me Lin," she winked, "what's yours?"

"Alphonse Elric. Pleased to meet you!"

"Same here!"

"So, where should we look first?"

"Well..." Lin stood up, "the best place to look for her would be-"

She swayed slightly.

"Are you alright?"

Lin placed her hands on her stomach and it growled at her.

"Just hungry and tired."

"In that case, I think maybe you should go home. We can look tomorrow morning."

"But-"

"Don't worry, if you tell me of some good places to look, I'll go look now."

"Are you sure?"

"It's okay. I don't get tired."

"Well, okay...she'd probably try to avoid people right now."

"Where should we meet tomorrow?"

"How 'bout right here?"

"Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!"

She walked a couple steps away, then turned around and yelled

"Al!"

"Yes?"

"Thanks!"

"Huh?"

"Meeting you has reminded me, that there are people in the world besides Rae and me that aren't jerks. And I really needed that."

"Ah, it's not that big a deal," Al said, waving his hands, "It's just that...my brother is nearly always getting into trouble, so I know what it's like to worry about family members."

Lin grinned.

"Rae would probably say the same about me. What's your brother's name?"

"He's Edward."

"Alright, 'night Al!"

"Goodnight!"

"See ya!" she called back, as she turned the corner and vanished.

Al looked after her for a few seconds.

If he had his flesh body, he would've smiled.

He turned around.

_Okay, let's see. If she's trying to avoid people, I want might want to check the back alleys...but I don't want Nii-san to wake up and worry because I'm not there. Hm..._

He started walking.

_Maybe I should go back, just for a little bit, and leave a note for him._

Suddenly, a racket broke out from an alley ahead of him.

A female voice cried out and sounds of running.

Al sighed, and the sound echoed throughout his metal body.

"It looks like this will be a long night. Unless...?"

_Avoiding people...alleys..?_

He broke into a run.

Rae slipped and nearly fell, but somehow managed, to the jeers of the men chasing her.

She didn't know where they had come from, and she didn't know how she was managing to run.

She didn't care anymore.

One of the men got close enough to step on her oversized cloak, and she tripped and fell to the cold pavement.

They laughed and reached down and ripped off her cloak, and her gloves.

They would've done more, but a pair of large metal hands reached down and pulled them away.

They swore and yelled at him and tried to fight him.

Behind them, she unsteadily fought to stand, ignoring her would-be tormenters being pinned down by the twisting pavement.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked, echoing throughout her fevered brain, and she couldn't understand, her world was spinning, faster and faster, and she began to fall forward, only to be caught by cold metal arms, her cheek landing against one arm.

Al had time to realize that the girl fit Lin's description exactly, but that was all he had time to notice before the world went black, and a girl's voice whispered,

"I'm sorry..."


	4. chap4

This chapter is rated PG because of what Winry finds.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Ed did not want to wake up. Of course, he hardly ever did.

Every morning began the same way.

He would groan, open one eye, glare at the sunlight, and then shut the eye.

Al then would attempt to coax him out of bed, and when that didn't work, he would lower his head down to Ed's ear and whisper,

"Shrimp."

And that was all it took.

Today started off like every other day.

But only for few seconds.

Ed groaned, opened one eye, glared blearily at the sunlight, shut the eye, and waited for Al to start talking to him.

Silence.

He opened one eye, and the second one followed.

The bed opposite him was empty.

Ed sat up quickly and looked around.

No one was in the room.

He got out of bed.

"Al?"

He wasn't in the next room.

"Al!"

He wasn't in the hallway.

"Alphonse!"

He wasn't anywhere in the hotel.

Ed pulled on his red coat and ran out the door.

/-/-/-/

Winry had woken up on a rusty old bench, in the middle of a city that was defiantly not Central or Remsbool. It didn't even have a train station, which even the most backwards towns in Amestis had.

She was confused. And that was an understatement. She was also scared, but she was determined not to show it, even though there was no one around to see.

In fact, it looked like no one had been around the entire city for years. Everything was covered with dust, and small clouds of it poofed up when she walked. The buildings around her were ruined and decayed, must of them having lost their roofs to time. Vines crawled up their sides, and weeds grew in the street.

"O-kay," Winry said to herself quietly, "I have no idea where I am."

She noticed a building that still had most of its roof.

"Well, I might as drop off my stuff in there before I explore this place some more. Maybe I can find a car or something. Good thing I brought all my tools."

She began to drag her heavy suitcase over to the building.

It was rather dark inside.

Dark enough that Winry had to blink, and squint, to adjust to the lack of light.

Once they did, she could see that it was just as run down as the outside. Curtains had fallen half off the curtain rods, books had fallen off of bookcases, and some books were even turning to dust.

The curtains hung in front of the windows, making the rooms very dark indeed.

"Creepy..."Winry murmured under her breath, "it looks like a setting for a horror movie."

She pulled the curtains down, and was assaulted by a cloud of dust.

Coughing, she placed the curtains on the floor, then looked around the room.

Much better.

It didn't look half as creepy.

Feeling a bit better, Winry picked up her suitcase and ventured into the hallway. It was darker in here, and the further she got in, the darker it got. The silence was beginning to get to her, so Winry started to talk quietly to herself.

"I hope there's a bedroom in this place, I don't think I slept long enough on the train. I wonder how much dust is on the sheets? Enough to shake off, or will I have to wash them? Come to think of it, do they even have a laundry machine here? The buildings looked pretty old fashioned, like they were built a long time ago.

"I wonder why this place was abandoned-"

Something underneath her feet cracked.

Puzzled, she steeped back, then bent down to discover what it was she had stepped on.

It was a corpse.

/-/-/-/

Ed stopped running long enough to glance at the sky.

It had been the middle of the morning when he'd woken up, and it was now late afternoon.

"Almost evening," he muttered, "and I've gotten nowhere. Drat it Al, where'd you go?"

Right after he said this, the sun glinted off something metal in an alley ahead of him.

It was probably just a trashcan. Just a trash can.

Probably.

Ed sprinted into the alley.

There was Al.

But he wasn't moving.

"Al! Hey Al!" Ed called, rushing over.

He didn't respond.

Ed pulled off the helmet and checked the blood seal.

It was still intact.

There came a groan from behind Al, and Ed stood up, and looked over the motionless suit of armor, to find a girl with long black hair, lying on her side on the ground.

Her skin was pale, far too pale to be natural.

Something was wrong.

Ed put his gloved hand on her forehead.

Even through the thick cloth, he could feel the heat, and when he pulled it away, it was wet with her sweat.

He stared at the sick, girl, then at his not responding brother and groaned.

"Great," he said, "How am I supposed to carry both of you?"

/-/-/-/

If you had asked Lin, she would have denied that she was skipping.

However, she could not deny that was not there was a definite light in her eyes, and a jump in her step.

_I can't believe there's someone who's willing to help me look! _

_Before there was a few people who offered me food or shelter, but there was never anyone who offered to help me look!_

_He's such a nice guy._

_I wonder he looks like underneath that helmet? He's so tall; he must be older than me... but his voice._

Lin slowed slightly, thinking.

_His voice sounds so...young._

She shrugged.

_Well, if it's important, I'll learn about it._

She grinned.

_I hope he doesn't wear that suit of armor again. Or at least leaves off the helmet. I wanna see what he looks like. _

She reached the fountain and jumped up to the edge, to the objections of some people nearby.

Ignoring them, she peered around the plaza.

Not seeing Al, she began to get a little worried.

What if he came, only he isn't wearing the armor, so she didn't recognize him?

_Well, he should be able to see me; I'm so high up. But maybe, I'll call for him, just in case._

Lin opened her mouth to yell, but just then another one of those "cars" came by, colored white and red, and lots of people came rushing by, and another car, this one black, was following.

"An ambulance!"

"Someone's been hurt!"

"A girl with black hair and a man in armor!"

"No way!"

Before the startled pedestrians could react, Lin pushed her way through the crowd, following the "ambulance."


	5. Fighting

Hooray, we're at chapter five! Oh, and you guys do remember that Ed mentioned that Winry's gone too? Well, in this chappie-Oh, just go read it, I can't explain. Oh, and this chapter is rated PG because of what Winry finds.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Silence.

Lin stood there, ready for almost anything, a confident smirk on her face.

Al stood behind her, feet itching to run away but unwilling to desert Lin.

And Scar stood, like a looming shadow, in front of them.

"I target the State Alchemists," He said finally, taking a step forward, "But you have placed yourselves in my way, so I have to choice."

Lin's smirk widened into the semi-maniacal grin, and she pulled a pair of daggers from her belt.

"Bering it on old man," she challenged, eyes glittering with an unholy joy, "I've gone too long without a fight!"

Al made his decision in a spilt second.

The enemy was powerful, and wouldn't hesitant to kill them.

How he knew this, Al couldn't say, but he didn't have time to question it.

They had to get away.

He clapped his hands and slammed them against the pavement.

A wall shot up from the pavement, separating them from Scar.

"Al! What-" Lin started to ask, but Al grabbed her hand and started to pull her away.

"Come on!" he said urgently, "We have to get out of here!"

"Al, calm down, I can't fight him now. Your wall stopped him!"

"Not for long!"

"How do you know?"

He froze, unsure, and images began to rush through his head.

Silent, unmoving images, like snapshots of the past.

Ed, looking as he'd seen him, only a few minutes ago, with the short braid and the red coat.

A wall, a wall he transmuted shooting up, just like the one he'd made today.

The wall shattering, with Scar standing behind it.

Just as the image vanished, the current wall fell, and Scar started after them.

"What-" Lin started to ask again, but Al tried to pull her away again.

"Come on!" he urged again.

Lin shook him off.

"I don't run away!" she yelled angrily.

Al flinched, but then he noticed something.

She wasn't glaring at him.

She was glaring into space.

Like she was remembering something, relieving one of her memories.

_Is she thinking of someone else? Remembering someone who accused her of running away? _Al wondered, then slammed the door on that thought_. What matters right now is keeping her alive._

Al looked back at Lin.

Her attention had returned to the present, and she stood, once again, ready for battle.

Her smirk was more wary this time though, and Al guessed that she must have realized that the 'old man' was more than he looked.

Suddenly, quick as lightening, she threw her dagger.

Even faster, Scar dodged.

The dagger hit the brick wall of the ally, and clattered to the ground.

Lin cursed and reached for a third dagger, already planning where to throw the second one, the one still in her hand, but Scar was still moving, and was almost in front of her.

The few seconds she'd used to pull out the dagger were too many and his hand was about to connect with her forehead.

Just in time, Al alchemized the pavement beneath him, and threw Scar backwards.

Lin threw her second dagger, and it almost hit, tearing a hole in his jacket.

He ignored it, recovering his footing, and changed direction to fight the biggest threat.

Al.

Al saw this. He gulped but gave a determined glare, and started to alchemizes a weapon from the pavement, but Scar was moving too fast, was right in front of him, and there was no way he could move in time.

"Al!"

---------------------------------------------

Winry was confused. And also rather scared, but she was determined not to let it show, even though there was no one around to see.

In fact, it looked like no one had been around the entire city for years. Everything was covered with dust, and small clouds of it poofed up when she walked. The buildings around her were ruined and decayed, most of them having lost their roofs and upper stories to time.

Vines crawled up their sides, and weeds grew in the street.

"O-kay," said Winry to herself quietly, "Wherever I am, it's definite not Central. And it's no where else I can think of either."

She noticed a building that still had most of its roof.

"Well, I might as well get some rest. The train ride was really long and uncomfortable." she sighed, "I don't understand why Al likes them."

She began to drag her suitcase that she'd filled with wrenches and other heavy tools, over to the building.

It was rather dark inside. Dark enough that Winry had to blink, and squint to get her eyes to adjust to the lack of light.

Once they did, she headed towards a small side room.

_It looks like it might be a bedroom. I hope so; I'm having problems keeping my eyes open. I wonder how much dust is on the sheets. Enough to shake off, or will I have to wash them? Come to think about it, do they even have a laundry machine here? The buildings look pretty old fashioned, like they built long time ago. I wonder why this place was abandon-_

Winry's train of thought was abruptly derailed when she stepped on something that cracked.

Puzzled, she stepped back, and then bent down to discover what it was she had stepped on.

It as a corpse, a dead body so decayed even the flies left it alone.

It lay on its stomach, one hand stretched out, one hand reaching towards her.

_I stepped on the wrist,_ Winry noticed, with a sort of horrified fascination. _That was the cracking noise. I stepped on its wrist..._

She had begun to step backwards, but she kept staring at the corpse, so she didn't see the figure behind her coming closer.

"Do not be afraid."

Winry jumped and spun around

Coming closer, silently walking through the deserted hallway was a woman with dark skin, red eyes and silver hair.

"The dead can not hurt you." The woman continued, walking past her, and up the corpse, "the dead can not hurt you, unless you let them."

She knelt by the side of the body, touched the side of its face gently, and whispered something softly into its ear.

Then she stood, and it suddenly burst into flames, that rose high, completely hiding the corpse, and then shrank into nothing, revealing that the corpse was gone. Not even ashes remained.

Winry's eyes opened wider than before.

"How did you do that?" she asked.

The woman looked up from the floor where the body had been laying.

"Magic." She said simply, "I know it does not exist in your world, but here it is common."

"What do you mean my world? Even though this town is abandoned it's still my world. I mean, there's just this world, right?"

The woman shook her head.

"There are many worlds. And now, you are in this world, the world of Ryon."

---------------------------------

Remember, constructive critism is always welcome!


	6. Explantions

"AL!"

Lin had managed to grab her dropped dagger, and turned just in time to see Al about to be killed by Scar, only to be knocked out of the way by a red and gold blur.

Scar's hand of destruction touched the ally wall.

The wall exploded, and chunks of flying rock went everywhere.

A piece of debris smashed into Lin's leg, causing her to give a grunt of pain and fall backwards.

She fell against the wall, its roughness grating against her back.

A small throwing knife, similar to Lin's daggers but smaller, cut through the air and caught scar in the shoulder.

Scar faltered for the space of a moment, then regained his balance and glared at the newcomers.

Hughes pulled out another knife.

Rae tremblingly picked up an iron bar she found on the ground.

Scar muttered something about reinforcements, then hit the ground and escaped into the sewers.

Hughes sighed and put away his throwing knife.

"He got away again.

Oh well. I'm not sure we could've beat him away way. Say Rae, what-"

He was cut off as Rae rushing up to Lin.

"Lin!"

She looked up from her wound, an expression of complete shock, and then delight, crossed her face.

"Rae!"

Rae raced over, and it looked like she was about to hug her, but then she backed off.

Lin looked worried now, and she opened her mouth, but Rae cut her off before she could even begin.

"Lin, what are you doing here? The last time I saw you, you were back in Ryon!"

"What was I supposed to do, stay in a city that was full of sick, dyingpeople, with no one I cared about, or follow you?" Lin retorted, and then winced.

"Lin, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, my leg's just broken again, that's all."

Someone whistled.

The two of them blinked, then remembered that Hughes was there, and turned to look at him.

"You're pretty calm about injuries." he said.

Lin shrugged.

"I'm always getting into trouble, so I'm always getting hurt. I'm used to it." she said, then remembering Al, turned to him, "Hey Al, I guess you were right. We-" and then she stopped.

She smiled.

_Well, it looks like Al's brother caught up to us._

_**---------------------------**_

"No way! That's impossible." Winry exclaimed.

"Nothing is impossible." the woman corrected, shaking her head slowly.

"But-how could something like this happen?"

The red eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and she gazed into the darkness of the abandoned house.

"I do not know. I shall have to a visit to an old ... acquaintance of mine...

You are tired?"

The sudden change of topic threw Winry off balance.

Well, more off balance then before.

"Huh? Well, yes but-"

"Come." she swept down the hallway.

Winry looked after her, and then glanced back at where the body had been, and then followed the woman to the spark of light that was the exit.

_Better the living then the dead._

------------------------------------------------

"This is the ugliest hospital I've ever been in." commented Lin in a loud whisper.

The nurse turned and gave her a look.

Lin responded by giving her an innocent smile.

She huffed and turned away.

Lin gave an evil grin and quickly hid the newly stolen purse under her pillow.

The door banged as the nurse left, and swung quietly as someone else entered.

"Lin, why are you smiling like that?"

"Nothing." she said innocently, but her lips twitched.

Rae sighed, and pulled up a chair next to her.

"You know, once they're done talking, they're going to want an explanation."

Lin groaned.

"I'm trying not to think about that."

"That's not very mature."

"So? I don't have to be mature yet, I'm only...only…"

"What?"

"..I forgot how old I am."

"How can you forget how old you are?!"

"Hey, can you remember?"

"Of course, I'm...I'm…um…"

"Ha."

The door banged again.

"Hey, what's the joke?" asked Hughes.

"Nothing." answered the two girls, smiling at each other, Rae with more than a touch of expirastion.

Everyone gave them a look and raised their eyebrows at them, but said nothing.

"So, " Roy asked pulling up a chair and letting himself drop into it, Hawkeye standing behind him, "can we have an explanation now?"

Lin sighed.

"Alright. Rae, mind if I start?"

The tall girl shook her hand.

"Okay. Let's see, where do I start?"

"Begin at the beginning. That's what they always say." Suggested Ed.

Lin glared.

"Like that helps. Where is the beginning in this whole mess?"

"Start with where you're from then." Al offered, hopping up on the bed next to her.

"..Well, see...we're kind of...here..."

"Lin you're being immature and putting it off."

"Fine..." Lin sighed, "We're from another world. And before you say it's impossible, yes I know, but it's true.

I guess you could say it started with the Black Death, a plague that swept through Aopolyn, the city we lived in.

It was a fatal disease. Once you got it; you were as good as dead."

"It was horrible," Rae said quietly, picking up the tale, "it was sticking down people lift and right. I think every other person in the city had it.

People barred themselves inside their homes, but it didn't work."

"Nothing worked." Inserted Lin, looking out the window, unconsciously gripping the rough sheet. "There was no way to survive the stupid thing, and no way to avoid getting it either."

"I think it poisoned the air." Rae said slowly, looking down, "And that's how it was able to find you, no matter  
where you went."

"Yeah," Lin said sadly, but also a bit angrily, "no matter whom you were or who you knew, no matter how strong you were, it found you. Too bad **_he_** could never figure that out."

"Who?"

Lin jumped.

"Oh, did I just say that out loud? Sorry, where was I? Okay so there was a deadly plague, and," she looked at Rae, suddenly unsure.

"My parents died from the black plague." Said Rae clearly, but she didn't look at them, and she gripped her knees tightly. "And right after that, Lin got sick too."

"I thought you said this sickness was fatal?" Roy interrupted.

"Oh, it was. Very fatal." Lin said.

"Then how did you survive?" asked Al.

Lin pointed to Rae.

Rae fidgeted.

"I-I made a deal."

"With who? The devil?"

"She might as well have." Lin said.

"Lin…" Rae said, almost whispering.

"I'm not blaming you!" Lin said quickly. "I'm not even blaming her! I'm just saying, no matter what kind of deal you make with her, you get the short end of the stick."

"Huh? What are you guys talking about?"

Rae sighed.

"The black angel."


	7. Flashback

This chapter is a flashback, from Rae's point of view. And while some of you  
may read the interaction between Rae and the Black Angel, and say "Yuri!",  
the way I pictured her doing it was almost motherly.  
----------------------------  
Snow fell, as she tossed and turned in her sick bed, tormented by the  
dreams that came wth the fever.  
She sat beside her, staring at her face, usally so cocky and tanned, now so  
pale and worn.  
Behind her, they argued.  
"What do you mean she's dying?!"  
"This sickness is fatal! No one survives the Black Death, no one!"  
"I hired you to cure her, not give a death sentance!"  
"Aren't you listening to me!?"  
She stood suddenly.  
"I can't take this." she said quietly. "I just can't take this."  
She turned and ran, ran from the romm, ran from the knowledge that she was  
going to die and there was nothing she could do.  
She ran outside, through the empty streets, the snow finding it's way into  
her hair, into her coat, into her mouth.  
Everything was so silent,except for her panting breath, and the crunch of  
the snow underneath her feet.  
It wasn't supposed to be silent.  
It was supposed to be noisy, ringing with laughter and the chatter of  
innocents.  
"The snow is evil."  
She truly believed it now.  
For how else could it fall so silently?  
It wasn't possible, it was unnatural.  
They say death comes silently.  
She believes it, because she believes that snow is death.  
She ran faster and faster, trying to leave behind her fears.  
She ran to that one tree, the one with the treehouse, and the swing, that  
was always their meeting place.  
This is a dream, she thought numbly, this is just a dream, and when I get  
there, she'll waiting for me, just like always.  
Silent snow fell, and the empty swing blew in the wailing wind.  
She stopped, and watched her panting breat form ghosts of her memories.  
"Push me Rae!"  
"You know, I need you as much as you need me."  
"I hate the snow...every bad thing that's happened, happened while it was  
snowing."  
"Lin...it's not fair...you can't...just...leave me here...I'd do...I'd do  
anything...to keep you here." she whispered, a tear dropping into the snow.  
"When the times comes," said a voice quietly, but in a way that you  
couldn't not hear it, in the silence.  
She turned to see a woman, a woman with dark skin, and pale silver hair.  
A gasp of frozen breath escaped her cold lips.  
"Black Angel." she whispered.  
"When the time comes..." continued the woman. "All motals die."  
Crimson eyes seached the girl's deep blue-grey ones.  
The girl stood still, petrifed by the unearthly gaze, until at lengh the  
woman found what she was looking for, and shut her eyes, allowing the black  
haired girl to blink.  
"You really would do anything, to save her." she stated.  
The girl suddenly reclaimed her voice.  
"Black Angel!" she cried, "Please! Grant me a gift that will save her!"  
The woman turned away, eyes unopened.  
"You know what I am. My gifts...are not only gifts, they are curses as  
well."  
The girl nodded, a detirmned glint in her eyes.  
"I know, but I'm not going to let her die."  
The woman turned back, opened her eyes.  
"I know." she said, "Come here."  
The girl steped forward and the Angel pulled her into her arms, and kissed  
her on the top of her head.  
Then she began to chant, but with a soft note in her voice, that made it  
sound almost like she was crooning a lullby.  
She began to feel tired, her eyes began to droop.  
The last thought she had was, Lin, I'm coming.  
-----------------------------------------------------  
She woke up in the middle of the snow covered field, her back against the  
old oak tree.  
She blinked,at first confused.  
And then she remembered.  
She shot up and began running back. She was a vanishing ghost in the  
streets, as she sped past, her white clothing blending her in with the snow,  
the snow swifting covering her footprints even as she made them.  
She reached the door and threw it open.  
It hit the side of the house with a loud bang.  
She ignored it, and kept going.  
She ran past the two men, who were still arguing.  
She ran up the stairs, to the room.  
She lay in the bed, the same as before.  
She walked over to the bed.  
She threw the fever-ridden girl a detirmined smile, before lightly touching  
her on the cheek.  
There was a flash of light and when it faded away, her friend was sleeping  
calmly, the fever gone.  
She grinned, barly restraning herself from jumpin up and down.  
The two men came in, and saw the sicknness was gone.  
The docter stared at disbeleif, and the father looked releived.  
Until he saw her standing there, and his expression hardened.  
He reached over and grabbed her arm.  
When he touched her skin, there was another bright light, and when this one  
faded, he lay on the floor, not moving.  
She took a step back, concerned and confused.  
The doctor knelt down, and examined him.  
He didn't look up, and his face was grim.  
"You made a deal with Her, didn't you?"  
She nodded, suddenly nervous.  
Neither she nor the doctor noticed the girl on the bed open her eyes.  
"Yes, I asked her for a healing ability. Why? What's wrong with him?"  
"He's dead."  
The eyes of both the girls shot open wide.  
"What?!"  
"The curse that comes with your gift...when you touch someone, they are  
either cured or killed, apparently. I would guess that when they are sick, they ae healed, but they are healthy, they die."  
He looked up.  
"You should have known better. You've studied all the theriys, heard all  
the stories. You should have known better. As sure as this girl owes you her  
life, this man's death is on your consious."  
She took a step back.  
"No, it's not-" she said, not wanting to beleive it.  
"Rae. "  
They turned to see the girl on the bed.  
She sat up in the bed, staring at her.  
She couldn't take it.  
She ran, not hearing her name being called.  
She just ran.  
-----------------------------------------  
(sighs) Stupid setbacks. First, I had no inspiration, then my mouse stopped  
working, then fanfiction. net stopped working, the list goes on and on. Ahh,  
well. It's up now.


	8. Talking and Reflections

Next chapter. (sighs) Took me long enough too. I'm actually pretty happy with this, lots of-(pop can rolls behind me)…I have a bad feeling about this. Excuse me. Konton-kun, that had better not be you trying to suck up all the chaos from my story.

"…Drat."

I knew this was gonna happen. Give it back!

"No! My chaos!"

No! Mine! I'm the one who fried her brain trying to come up with good ideas for this story!

"I'm the one who came up with the idea of Winry ending up in the other world, and then they have to do all this stuff to get her back including-"

You're going to give the ending away, you idiot!(jumps at him)

"Bring it on Via-chan!"

This will take a while. Enjoy the chapter!

----------------------------------------------

"The black angel is a mysterious figure that doesn't seem to be connected to any world." explained Rae, "Almost every world sees to know of her, though they don't all call her by the same name.

The black angel has the ability to grant "gifts", in other words special powers. But there is always a drawback, a curse that comes with it."

"I see. That's why you are so paranoid about being touched. You don't want anyone else to die."

Rae nodded sadly.

"Anything else you guys don't understand?" asked Lin. "because I want to know why Al can't remember anything, and if it has anything to do with him getting his body back."

"What?!" exclaimed everyone.

"I can remember **some** things." Al corrected, "I just can't remember anything after..." he broke off, and looked at Ed. At first, he looked confused, but then it clicked.

"Oh." he said, "That."

"What are-" Rae started to ask, but Lin tapped her on the arm.

Rae looked at her, and Lin shook her head and mouthed, "Tell you later."

"So, what did happen?"

Ed looked at Roy.

Roy left, and Hawkeye followed.

Ed then turned to look at Lin.

"Hey, I'm stuck here." Lin said, wiggling her toes at him.

"Well go to sleep or something then!"

"Too bad." Lin said, smirking," I don't feel like it."

"Lin..." said Rae warningly.

Lin grinned.

_Teasing them is such_- than she noticed Al looking at her.

He was giving her the puppy dog eyes.

She groaned and turned over.

"Fine, you win." she said, placing her pillow over her head. "I'm asleep now."

Rae blinked, slightly surprised that she would give in that easily, then turned to Ed and smiled.

"I'll go now."

"Thanks." he said gruffly.

They waited until she left the room, and then Ed rubbed his forehead, trying to come up with the words to explain.

"Where to start? Well, you know that you lost your body?"

Al nodded.

"I managed to attach your soul to that suit of armor. You know, the one in the basement?"

"But what did you use for the raw material?"

Ed suddenly became very interested in the floresent light above his head.

"Um..."

"Nii-san, you didn't do anything stupid, did you?"

"....Depends on your definition of stupid."

"Nii-san-"

"Okay, alright! I used my arm."

Al was shocked silent for a few minites, and then looked at his brother's full coat sleeve.Seeing the question in his eyes, Ed pulled back his sleeve to reveal the automail.

Slowly Al reached out and touched it.

"Winry made this?"

"Yeah." Ed said quietly "She and Auntie Pinako did a great job, didn't they?"

Al said nothing, only continuing to trace the automail. It's curves, it's joints, the valleys that weren't cracks, and gapes implied weakness. Holes? No, that was not it either. Lines? Lines were flat, not like these dark valleys, these black holes, these swallowing cervices. The groves in his brother's arm, the metal arm that replaced the one he'd sacrificed to bring him back.

"It's very heavy?" Al asked quietly, though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah." Ed replieded, just as quietly.

"Very inconvieant?"

"Yeah."

"And the only good thing about it, is now you have an excuse to see Winry whenever you want."

"Yeah-I DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!!!"

Al chuckled.

"Whatever you say, Nii-san."

Then his smile faded.

"You didn't have to, you know."

"Yes I did. You're my brother, I can't... I can't just...let you leave me."

Silence.

"I wish I could remember." Al said, forming his hands into shaking fists. "I wish I could remember everything that happened on between then and now. A lot of things happened, didn't they?"

"Yeah." Ed said, "But it's okay. Not all of it was important. And the stuff that was important, I can tell you. I'm just glad you're finally got your real body back."

He hesitanted for a moment, then reached over and hugged him.

"I still can't beleive it."

Al hugged back, needing the comfort. Who wouldn't? He'd just forgotten five years of his life. That's enough to shock any one. He still wasn't sure what was currently going on, or who those other two people were, or why they seemed to know him and his brother, but he set those questions aside for later.

Right now, what Al, and Ed too, needed most, was some tender loving care.

-------------------------------------------------------

Winry flinched slightly as the door banged shut behind her.

Some of the people turned to look at her, but most didn't, and kept right on drinking and talking.

And then the woman, the Black Angel walked in.

All noise stopped.

Someone dropped a cup, and it shattered on the floor.

"This girl needs a room." the woman announced, in dead silence.

A man, presumably the owner, stepped forward, and gave a deep, respectful bow.

"Of course, Black Angel. Anything for a friend of yours.

Are you hungry as well?" this last was directed towards Winry, who nodded.

"I leave her in your hands." stated the Black Angel, and she walked back outside.

Everyone stared after her, and then the owner said,

"I'll send someone up to prepare your room, and my wife has cooked a most delicious stew. Come sit down over here, at this table."

She followed him over to a plain, wooden table, and sat down.

While she waited for the food, Winry looked around.

When she began looking for them, she could see a lot of signs that she was in another world.

One of the first things that caught her eye was that the clothes were defiently not something she would find in her world. The woman were mostly wearing dresses, plain ones with long skirts that almost touched the floor, and the men wore tunics.

When the stew was brought to her, it was in a wooden bowl, and from the shape, Winry guessed it had been carved with a sharp knife.

It was a good stew, with juicy meat and potatoes. Deliouscius, and very filling.

Once Winry finished the bowl of stew, she sat back and started to think.

There wasn't much point denying it now. She was clearly in another world. The only question she had now, is what to do next?

Winry sighed and rested her head on her arms.

_Of all the times,_ she thought to herself, _Of all the times for this to happen, why now? I'd been looking forward to seeing them again for so long. _

Her throught tightened.

_That idiot...why can't he come home more often? Months go past, and we don't hear a word from them, or about them, and for all we know, they'e dead and buried. And then, we'll get a phonecall. "Winry, I broke your automail again. Be a good girl and fix it up for me, will you?"_

_Or else, he'll show up on the door step, with the automail I worked so hard on completely destroyed, and he'll be covered with ...bandages. Bandages and scars. _

_That idiot. Why is he always getting himself into danger? Why can't he listen to Al and I? I wish..._

She smiled sadly.

_Wouldn't be nice, if while I was stuck here, I somehow found the way to restore their bodies, then Ed could stop being a State Alchemist, and they could come home to stay._

She sighed.

_I'm getting depressed again. It looks like there's nothing I can do right now, so I'll just go to sleep. Maybe once I wake up, that strange lady will be back. Or even better, this whole thing will all be a dream. I doubt that will happen though._

She sighed again.

_I just hope Ed doesn't get himself killed while I'm gone. It's not like my presence will change anything, but still..._

_Stop it Winry. You're just making things worse._

She got up and walked over to the owner, planning to ask where her room was.

Tomorrow, she'd try to figure out something to do. Right now, though, she really needed some rest.

------------------------------------------------------

This chapter is dedicated to Konton-kun. Even if you do try to steal the chaos from my story, and even if you torture me with images of Dart/Lavitz, you're a great friend, and you're one of the main reasons I haven't given up on this yet! Thanks so much Konton-kun! (For those of you who wanted to know how the fight ended, I distracted him by throwing him a sugar cookie and several volumes of Gravitation, and a fake copy of Kingdom Hearts 2. He'll kill me when he realizes it's fake, but oh well. What else is new?)


	9. Reflections and Revalations

I was rereading the manga chapter 26"To the Master." I really love Al. He's so cute and naive, but at the strangest times, he'll surprise you with how wise and mature he is.

You are probably wondering why Winry is in the other world (which is sometimes referred to as Ryon) Well; if I tell you, it will give away the ending. So, sorry, can't tell you.

Warning! Lin/Al ahead!

-

Lin sighed as the door banged shut behind the Elric brothers.

Not listening had been harder then she expected. The pillow had kept out most of it, but if she had tried, she could have pieced together.

But despite all her teasing, Lin really didn't want to overhear such a personal conversation.

To distract herself, she had tried to imagine different ways she could annoy people, but it didn't work too well.

Al's voice worked its way into her ear. He sounded sad.

_Like that's a surprise,_ Lin though sarcastically, _when you consider what they're talking about._

A mental image of Al appeared to go with the sound. He was crying.

Her heart twisted.

In the short time she'd known him, the younger Eric brother had completely wound his way into Lin's heart. Lin usually didn't make friends easily, but once she did, they were for life, and she would do anything for them.

Lin smiled to herself.

_Al is...so eager to please, so trusting, so, so lovable. He's really a great guy. I'm really glad I know him._

Lin remembered the fight against...what had they called him? Oh, right, Scar.

_Al knew what we were up against. He wanted to run, and he could've. But he didn't._

_Al is..._

"Hey Lin" called Rae, pushing open the door.

"Hey Rae. Is that for me?" she asked, gesturing at the tray of food she held.

"Yes it is! Funny thing though. Al was headed down there for the reason I was!" Rae smiled.

"Huh?" asked Lin confused.

Then her eyes widened. "You mean..."

"He was thinking you might be hungry when you woke up"

_He was thinking about me._

"Ah, he was right" she said, stretching " I'm so hungry I could eat a horse"

_It makes me feel really happy to know that he was thinking about me._

-

Winry woke up the sunshine filling her room and burning her eyes.

She groaned and rolled over.

After a few moments for trying to go back to sleep and failing, she sighed and got out of bed.

Looking out of sleep-blurred eyes at the room, she tried to remember where she was, and why everything looked to so old fashioned.

Then she remembered.

She was in another world.

Winry felt like going back to bed and pulling the covers over her head, but she knew that wouldn't solve anything.

So she walked over to the jar and the mirror, that must be their version of a sink. The basin was full of cold water (didn't they have running water?)

Winry splashed her face and reached for the towel.

After she was down getting ready, Winry walked downstairs.

The main room was less full than last night but still had a decent number of people inside, all of who were chatting cheerfully and eating.

Floating around the room was the wonderful smell of eggs and bacon being fried.

Winry received some cheerful nods; a couple people called out some friendly greetings.

She replied in kind, and sat at a nearby table, after asking for a plate of the bacon and eggs.

As she started to eat, she accidentally overhead part of the conversation from the table next to her.

"No way! You're telling me you actually believe that goofy stuff"

"It's not goofy, just listen! That town, Aopolyn, it must be haunted"

"You goof! It's not haunted; there are just a lot of bad memories there"

"Huh? Bad memories"

"Years ago, a terrible plague known as the Black Death swept through the city of Aopolyn. Every single person died, because it was so contagious and so deadly. Not one person survived.

People are still afraid of it, and that's why no one ever went back to bury the bodies, and to this day, no one lives in Aopolyn."

"See? It must be haunted"

Winry stopped listening and started thinking.

They didn't bury the bodies?

She remembered the corpse she'd found in the abandon town.

That must have been the same town. But of all the towns in this world, why did I end up in that town?

Winry thought of the woman they had called the Black Angel.

_I wonder_ _if she's learned anything._

-

Al came in the room to find Lin tossing random objects at the walls.

He blinked as an empty milk carton sailed past his head.

"Lin" he asked slowly, wondering if she'd lost it"what are you doing"

"I'm bored" Lin complained, tossing a plastic spoon at the wall"Bored! There's nothing to do in this stupid hospital! And I'm still stuck here because of my leg being broken"

She tossed an empty bowl, and her elbow knocked into the lamp, causing it to crash onto the floor.

Silence, as the two of them stared at it, apprenhensivly.

"Oh man." Lin said"I'm in for it now."

"Don't worry" Al said"I can fix it."

He knelt on the floor, being careful not to get his knees cut. He clapped his hands, and then carefully touched a peice of the lamp. There was a flash of light, and the lamp was fixed.

Al smiled and picked up, showing it to Lin.

Lin grinned and clapped.

Al's smile grew bigger, but then he turned serious and set the lamp down on the table.

"Lin, even if you are bored out of your mind, you still can't throw things."

Lin folded her arms and sighed.

"Fine" she said" but I still have no idea what to do."

Al thought for a moment.

"Well, I'm here, so you can talk to me."

Lin looked rather surprised then grinned.

"That'll work."

-

Rae walked down the hallway, the soles of her shoes clicking quietly against the floor.

She hummed slightly as she walked.

_Even if this happiness cannot last it is important to enjoy what you have while you have it. I guess Lin was right, I shouldn't have run. But still I don't regret running, because now we are here._

Her steps slowed slightly, as she came to Lin's door, and muffled voices came from behind the door.

She frowned slightly, trying to think.

_Who...?_

She peeked around the edge of the door.

Al sat on the bed, next to Lin.

They were smiling, and laughing.

Lin was leaning against the pillow, laughing her head off, clutching her stomach, she was laughing so hard.

Al was the same, nearly falling off the bed.

Rae smiled, and then a thought came to her.

_Is it possible...?_

She thought for a while, then slowly, quietly, shut the door, and walked away, a suspeicly large smile on her face.

Once she thought she was far enough away, she started to skip down the hallway, laughing to herself.

"Hey, what's so funny" asked a voice.

Rae turned to face Ed.

"Nothing. Where have you been"

"Looking for Winry."

"That girl who was supposed at the train station"

He nodded, frowning.

"I'm worried. I was late going to pick her up as it is. What if she got tired of waiting, and went to go find me only to get lost? Or what if she was kidnapped"

Rae, touched, reached out to pat his shoulder reassuringly, but drew back at the last moment, remembering her cursed gift.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she's okay, where ever she is." She said instead.

Ed gave her a weak smile.

"Thanks. But I've looked everywhere, and now I don't know...what else to do. And also I don't know what to tell Al. He only remembers his childhood; he doesn't remember any of this" He gestured out the window, at the tall buildings and busy streets of Central. "But he would remember Winry. But now that she's missing it will just give him one more thing to worry about." he sighed," Even though he has his body back, our problems are still not over yet. And soon he'll bring up the topic of wanting to restore my arm and leg."

He looked at Rae.

"Hey I don't suppose you could touch my arm and leg and heal them like you healed Al's?."

"Well" Rae said uncetainly"I think I could, but if I'm wrong, you'll die."

"Hm, that's something that can really dampen your enthusim."

"Yeah, you're telling me."

"Well, it's something to think about, right"

"Maybe if the mechanical arm was gone and you were bleeding..." mused Rae.

Ed winced.

"It really hurts when you take it out of the socket." He explained.

"Oh, I see."

"Shouldn't we try though"

"Well okay. But later, alright"

Ed nodded, then remembered the main reason he'd come to the hospital.

"Do you know where Al is" he asked.

"Yes, he's in Lin's room." Rae responded.

They started walking down the hallway to her room.

" What's he doing in there anyway" Asked Ed as he walked.

Rae chuckled.

"Well, they seem be getting along very well together, and enjoying each other's company very much."

Ed looked confused.

Rae chuckled again.

"Don't worry; girls usually see it coming first."

"See what"

Rae gave a grin was creepily similar to Ed's semi-maniacal one, the one he gives when he's in the middle of a fight and he's about to knock someone sensless.

"Nothing." She responded, sounding quite innocent, which was really scary when contrasted with her smile.

Ed looked at her, and in the back of his mind, wondered if she'd gone nuts, and if he should run away.

But Rae calmed down and said"Why wasn't your brother out looking with you"

"Just in case anything happened, I wanted him to stay here."

"Oh, that explains it."

They came to the door to Lin's room.

They could hear Al and Lin talking.

"Did you ever fight with your brother" came Lin's voice.

"Yeah, we used to fight a lot, actually." Al's voice responded.

"Really? What did you fight over"

"Lots of things. Usually stupid little stuff. Once we fought over who would marry Winry."

Ed turned red.

"That's that girl your brother is out looking for, right"

"Uh huh."

"Who won the fight" asked Rae coming inside the room.

Ed recovered and went in after her.

"Al! Why are you telling her that story!"

"Lin asked me if we'd ever fought. And I won the fight, but Winry said no."

"So, Winry and Ed are a couple?"

"No!"

"Not yet."

"AL!"

"Isn't it true though?"

"No!"

"Hey, don't people say the the more you protest the more you like them?" asked Lin.

"Yes, that's one of my favorite quotes." Rae said, ""The greater the denial, the greater the attraction.""

Ed opened his mouth, probably to protest some more, but he never got a chance to say anything, because at the moment, the Black Angel appeared in the middle of the room.

-

Thank you for reading, now please review!


	10. Looking around and reseaching

The Black Angel's back!

-

There was no poof of smoke, there was no loud bang. She didn't appear in a flash of light.

She simply appeared, soundlessly, suddenly, and it took them a while to realize what their eyes were telling them.

"You are the friends of Winry Rockbell?" the Black Angel asked in the silence.

Ed was the first to recover.

"Yes! Where is she?" he demanded.

"She is in the world of Ryon."

Rae gasped.

"What?" exclaimed Lin, "she's in our world? How-"

"I do not know, but there she is, and so we must fix it. I am on my way to see what I can discover. It would help if you would do the same. Look for information about other worlds, the rules of passing in between the worlds, and the rules governing the worlds."

She disappeared then, just as suddenly as she had appeared.

They blinked, and then Ed rushed out the door.

"I'm going to check the library!" He yelled over his shoulder.

"Nii-san! Wait!" Al yelled, dashing to the door.

" Where are you going!" asked Lin.

"I'm going with Nii-san! Don't worry, I'll be back soon!"

"You'd better!" Lin yelled after him.

She was rewarded with the bright smile he threw her, and then he was gone.

Lin stared out the door, still swinging from its hinges from the shove that Ed had given it.

"Rae?" she asked, "do you remember that poetry class we had to take?"

"Yes." Rae said, puzzled.

"Do you remember that poem about promises?"

Rae searched her memory, and then shook her head.

"Well," Lin said, "I think it went something like:

"Have you ever tried?

To protect someone with promises?

Made them promise

To come back safe

As if the promise

Itself

Would protect them

Protecting them

With promises

It's like trying to

Protect them with chains

You try to pin them down

So that they

Can't escape

So that they

Cannot leave you

I don't want to chain you

But

I don't want you

To leave me

And I don't

Want you

To be hurt

So protecting you

With the chains of a promise

Might be

The lesser of two evils

So make me a promise

That you'll always

Come back to me."

It went something like that, I think."

"Hmmm." said Rae, "now that I think about it, it does seem rather familiar."

Lin was silent. A thoughtful look crossed her face, and then she asked, "Do you think there's any truth to it?"

"..I don't know. Maybe."

"It seems kind of selfish, though, doesn't it? Shouldn't they have the right to decide what their fate is?"

Rae smiled.

"But you can't make them promise. You can only ask them to promise."

Lin looked at her, and then she smiled.

She turned back to the door.

"Yeah, you're right."

"One question though. Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I just made him promise to come back soon."

Rae smiled a knowing look in her eyes.

"Well, if you're going to protect him with chains, make sure you don't bind him too tightly! After all, love isn't a prison; it's the loop of rope around you, which keeps you from falling, that you can take off anytime."

Lin gave her an annoyed look.

"Don't talk like that. It's not like I'm in love with him or anything,"

"Of course it's not." grinned Rae.

"Stop smiling like that!"

Rae giggled.

"Knock it off!"

Rae giggled again, and her smile grew bigger.

"RAE!"

-

Winry had decided to talk a walk.

There were a couple reasons for this. One was that she had no idea what else to do other then sit there and worry, or sitting there day-dreaming about Ed (which happened more then she'd like to admit.)

But the main reason was that she had no idea whatsoever what was happening back home, she didn't even if Ed had torn himself away from his research long enough to notice that she was missing.

Winry slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand.

_Be fair Winry. If they knew you were in trouble, they'd come running to help. You're just angry because they don't communicate with you as much as you would like._

_And don't I have the right? _She responded to herself._ Years could go by without them ever sending a letter or coming by, and while we're waiting for them to show up, we worry. We imagine all the horrible things that could happen._

_So when I heard the news that they were back in Central, I came to see them. And then this happened. Just my luck._

Winry sighed.

_Or just their luck, since it seems to be worse than mine._

She shook her head in an attempt to clear it of the depressing memories that thought conjured up, and started to look around.

Another reason Winry had decided to talk a walk was she was curious to see the town. When she'd first come here, it had been night, and the town had reminded her of something from a horror film. Though there had been some lamps burning, the darkness still covered most of the town from her view. And the empty streets, along with the silence, didn't help at all.

. Of course, her nervousness wasn't helping either.

Now, in the board daylight, it was a direct contrast.

The crowded street was filled to overflowing with people, who were chatting loudly and cheerfully, advertising their wares; children were begging their parents for toys or for sweets, and the sun shone over it all.

Winry's attention was drawn to a bald man in purplish robes, standing by the side of the road.

What he said was lost in the roar of the crowd, but it apparently appealed to those who could hear it, because a large crowd was gathering around him.

His mouth was moving, and his eyes were shut in concentration.

A flame the size of a human being appeared in front of him.

There were a couple shrieks, but they seemed to be more excited then terrified.

The fire shifted and took the form of a bird, a bird made of fire. It flapped its wings, and soared up into the sky, seemly into the sun, then came back down and again floated in front of the man. Then it turned into a burning red rose. And then lastly, it became a shapely woman made of fire, who posed seductively and blew a kiss at the audience before vanishing.

The man in the robes bowed, a trifle unsteadily, strength probably diminished from the performance.

There were a few boos and cat-calls, but these were mostly drowned out by the clapping, and the clinking of coins landing in the bowl beside him.

_A wizard street performer? _Winry thought to herself, _I've never heard of anything like that before. But then, I've never actually seen magic before either. This whole world is different from anything I could imagine._

She noticed a library across the street.

_Those are always good sources of information. Maybe I can mind something that will help me there._

_-_

Ed and Al walked in the door, with stacks of books taller than they were, in their arms.

The stacks were so tall they blocked their field of vision, so that Ed couldn't see where he was going and walked into the wall; fell down with the stack collapsing on top of him.

"Ow." came the moan from underneath the pile.

"That's why you shouldn't walk with piles of books bigger than you are." Lin teased.

Ed shot up, sending books flying everyway.

"Who are you calling an ant so small he could easily be smashed by a book!"

"Who said anything even close to that!"

"Lin, Nii-san, calm down. We can't bring Winry back by fighting."

Lin bit back a comment about Ed missing his girlfriend, and nodded.

"Fine."

"Whatever."

Ed reached down and picked up one of the books that hadn't been sent flying and started to read.

Al and Rae also picked up books, and started reading.

Lin said, "Aren't one of you going to give me a book? It's not like I can reach it myself."

"Oh, sorry," Al said, picking up a heavy book and handing it to her.

She winced, both at the thickness of the book and the strangeness of its title.

"Are you sure you can handle that? It's pretty complicated." Said Ed.

Lin shrugged.

"I'll be fine. The books Rae brought home from magic school were way more complicated then this, and besides, how hard can it be to understand when people are talking about other worlds?"

"Probably about as hard as understanding the title of that book."

Lin looked at the book again and sweat dropped.

"I may have a problem then…" she muttered, and then shrugged. "Oh well. It's not like I have anything better to do."

-


	11. Problems

Scar surveyed the hospital.

Rain was pouring down, making an almost musical sound. With the distant accompaniment of cars splashing through puddles, the rain dropped out of the sky, falling onto roofs and cars and people's heads, only to fall again, to finally hit the ground. And the smell of rain, the smell of wet earth, the smell of renewal, was everywhere.

A black car pulled up in front the hospital, and two people got out, both in blue military uniforms. A black-haired man and a blond woman.

The man tilted his head back towards the sky. His voice was lost in the sound of the rain, but the look on his face said that he obviously wasn't thrilled about all this rain.

The woman said something, and gestured towards the building. He sighed, and they walked in together, side by side.

Scar stood still, ignoring the rain seeping through his clothes, and gathering in his already drenched hair.

He gazed steadily at the hospital.

"The Flame Alchemist...and the Fullmetal Alchemist...in the same building. But how to get to them?"

"It's raining again." remarked Rae, drawing aside the curtain to gaze out the window.

"Better rain than snow." said Lin.

She scowled. "I hate snow."

Rae shivered.

"I know." she said softly.

The two were quiet for a moment, wrapped up in their thoughts. The moment ended when the door banged open.

Three of the occupants turned to see a white-coated, fat doctor enter the room. The other occupant, Ed, just kept reading.

The doctor stood in the middle of the room, puffing out his chest pompously.

"What are you all doing in here?" he demanded, "This is a hospital, not a clubhouse!"

"Chill out gramps," said Lin lazily, "What's the problem? It's not like I'm dying or anything."

The fat man flushed. He obviously wasn't used to people questioning his authority.

"Why you," he turned to Ed, who hadn't even looked up from his book once, "pay attention to me!"

No response.

"Why you little-"

Ed twitched.

Al winced.

"Who are you calling a super small speck of a bean!"

"I didn't say that much! Wahhh! Don't hurt me!"

Al got up and grabbed Ed, trying to calm him down.

"Wow, does he always react like this?" Lin asked.

"Yes," Al grunted, pulling Ed backwards.

The doctor, flustered, brushed off his coat, trying to regain his poise.

"Humph! Violent, little-"

Lin blinked.

_Wow, some guys just don't learn._

"Who are you calling a midget as small as the tiniest of dust that you can only see through the most powerful of microscopes!"

The doctor cowered.

"Maybe it's not a good idea for them to be in the same room together?" suggested Rae, her quiet voice barely heard over Ed's ranting.

"I think you're right." Al said, beginning to pull Ed away again, "Come on, Nii-san, time to go visit the library again!"

"Just come back soon again, okay?" asked Lin, a trifle anxiously.

Al stopped for a one minute, and smiled at her.

"Of course." he said simply.

Unable to resist, she smiled back. Not her usual smirk of a smile. This smile was smaller, quieter, but more real, and heartfelt.

They smiled at each other, and then he was gone.

From down the hallway came an echo of Ed, still ranting ("I'll make you visit your own operating room!").

Standing next to the window, Rae smiled.

"Not as if you love him, yeah right!" she whispered.

The library was bigger than Winry expected. There were shelves upon shelves of books, and this was only the first floor.

_But,_ she reasoned, _with all of these books here, I should be able to find something to help me._

Winry walked over to towards the first bookshelf.

As she came up, she began to study its contents.

"The art of magic."

"The annuals of Ryon."

"The advent of magic."

Well_, I guess I should start with the magic books...I hope there's a really simple one somewhere in here that I can understand._

She reached up and pulled out the first one that came to hand. It was really large and heavy; she nearly fell over, but recovered in time and managed to drag it over to the table she'd claimed.

She dropped it on to the table with a heavy thud that earned her a glare from the librarians.

She didn't care though, right now, she just wanted a way to get home.

_Is this how Ed feels? Working on a goal that is so important to you that everything else fades into the back ground? _

Hurriedly she opened the book, and started reading.

Only to find that she couldn't understand it.

It wasn't that she couldn't read it.

She could.

It was just so confusing; it didn't make any sense to her. Like when a ten year old opens a tenth grader's science book. They don't know what sucrose or glucose or mititose is, and so, they don't understand it.

It reminded her of when she'd once tried to read one of Ed's alchemy books.

Giving up on that book, she grabbed another one off the selves, only to meet the same result.

This happened again and again, until at last Winry collapsed in exhaustion.

_Well, what do I do now? _She asked herself, _I can't understand any of these books. My knowledge of machinery and automail can't help me here. I have no way of knowing what's going on with Ed and Al. I hope they're okay._

She frowned, looking annoyed.

_He'd better be taking good care of his automail! And…_

The frown slipped away, to be replaced with a more worried look.

_… He'd better be taking good care of the rest of himself too._

She sighed, and her eyes traveled around the room, they came to rest on a book someone had left on the floor.

"Apolyn: the tragic village."

_Apolyn…that was the village I first came to! The one destroyed by the plague!_

She stared at it for a few seconds.

_Maybe… if I learn more about it, I'll learn why I ended up there._

After Ed and Al left, the doctor calmed down enough to examine Lin's leg and pronounce her almost healed.

Almost immediately after he left, she tried to get up.

"Hey! He said in a day or two, not now!" protested Rae.

"Well, I want to get better now! How can I help them if I can't get out of bed? I can't understand magic, let alone alchemy!"

Lin then groaned and fell back, from the pain of trying to move her leg too soon.

Lin stared at her not cooperating leg, and then clenched her fist. "I am not," she stated through gritted teeth, "I am not going to just stay here, like some helpless, powerless child!"

"Even she never recovered from an injury like this in such a short amount of time." Rae said quietly.

Lin looked at her, a sort of angry look, but with underlying sadness.

Rae just looked at her, steadily, until Lin sighed and turned and looked out the window.

"I know," she admitted finally, "but still...I want to do something to help." she sighed, then brightened. "I know! I'll get Al to teach me alchemy!"

Rae's serious expression vanished, and she giggled.

"What?" Lin asked, slightly annoyed that'd she'd laugh when she was being serious.

"You said Al, not Ed and Al."

Lin did two things. First she yelled "So what!" Second she blushed, turning a nice shade of crimson red that almost rivaled Ed's famous coat.

"It's not like that!"

"Then why are you blushing?" giggled Rae.

Lin stared at her, and then threw her arms up in the air.

"Argh! There's no arguing with you!"

But even as there was a knock at the door, and Rae left to go answer, Lin began to wonder, if Rae might be right after all.

Ed dumped the books on the table with a resounding thud that caused most of the people in the library to turn and look at him, only to hurriedly turn away again when he glared at him.

He growled under his breath and dropped in his chair.

_Stupid Winry! Getting herself stuck in some other stupid world._

He sighed.

_Just when things were calming down too…_

He turned a page, frown deepening as he realized he wouldn't be able to concentrate.

He kept thinking,

_What was that world, Ryon, like anyway?_

He guessed he could ask Lin and Rae once he and Al got back.

_Was it dangerous?_

_What was the land like?_

_Was one giant wilderness, filled with wild man-eating beasts? What where the people like? Were they mostly friendly? Or-_

Ed slammed his head into the desk, getting more strange looks.

_I really can't wait for Winry to get back. I won't last long like this._


	12. More problems

Okay people, don't freak because Mustang acts like that. He's a bit of a flirt, and so...

(Shrugs)

When Rae answered the knock at the door, Mustang and Hawkeye walked in.

"Hello, ladies." Mustang said to them cheerfully.

"Oh, it's you guys again." Lin said, in a voice that was not necessarily unfriendly, but not really welcoming either.

"Yes, we're back. I heard your leg should be better soon."

"Yes, thank goodness!" exclaimed Lin with feeling. "I hate being stuck in hospitals!"

"Then you should stop getting into trouble." Said Rae quietly, but in an unmistakably irate tone of voice.

Hawkeye coughed, and they turned to look at her.

"In any case, what we're here for-"

"There would be a reason. Can't people just drop by for a nice social visit?" Muttered Lin.

They gave her a Look.

Lin's mouth twitched, but she said nothing.

"...well," Mustang continued, "Fullmetal told us about ...what's the young lady's name? Winnie? Winly?"

"Isn't Winry?"

"Yes, it is." Hawkeye said.

"Oh right. Well, have you all learned anything new?"

The girls sighed and shook their heads.

"Well, what do you know? I only know the bare bones of the situation."

Lin shrugged.

"Don't look at me. I just do it."

Rae sighed.

"Okay, the first thing to understand is that there are many worlds. It's very difficult to get into other worlds, but it is possible. "

"How did you do it?"

Rae shifted her weight nervously.

"Well..."

Mustang and Hawkeye looked at Lin. She placed her hands behind her back, and made flapping motions, and then mouthed, "Black angel."

It took them a few minutes to get it, but they got did.

"So how did you get through?"

She shrugged.

"I followed Rae. Cause of" she made the flapping motion again, "Rae gets to ignore the rules-"

"What rules?"

"Well, in theory," Rae explained, "each world has its own rule you have to follow to get into. Like for example...let's see..."

"Some worlds demand a blood sacrifice!" Lin said dramatically, and earned another Look from Rae, who then sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Okay, let me think...Ryon itself is very easy to get into...you just need to believe...um... I can't think of anymore examples right now..."

"Looks like you should have more attention in class." teased Lin

"At least I actually showed up and didn't play hooky all the time!" retorted Rae.

The atmosphere in the room changed ever so slightly, as both girls realized what they'd said, and tried to figure a way out, to find what to say next.

"You skipped school? That's not good! You need an education!" Roy unknowingly solved the problem by saying.

The mood gone, Lin thankfully went back to her usual self, but it would remain the back of her head, to come out to the front, just waiting.

Slowly, Winry paged through the book.

According to it, the theory was that the plague had started when a sick stranger had staggered into town.

"No one recognized him," it read "but an old widow, who attempted to nurse him back to health, took him in. Within hours, he was dead, and the widow soon fell sick as well.

Townsfolk had flocked to see this stranger, and the plague speeded up.

By the next day, people were falling ill left and right.

And dieing even quicker.

People didn't just stand there. There were many attempts to stop it.

They gathered all the mages with even the tiniest spark of power of healing power in the Town Square and they attempted to cast a healing spell over the entire city.

People locked themselves into their homes, hoping not to get infected.

Nothing worked.

Within weeks everyone was dead.

It happened so quickly the outside world had no knowledge of this, and weeks went by before anybody noticed and then they only noticed when a peddler came to town.

He was looking for customers, but he only found corpses.

Luckily, those weeks when the town lay untouched seemed to have killed the plague.

The Black Death was over and more one of the largest towns of Ryon was gone was gone."

That ended the first chapter.

Winry's fingers shook slightly.

_Am I chasing a dead end? _She asked herself_, but I can't stop wondering. This Ryon world seems to be very large. Why did I first end up there of all places?_

Winry remembered something the Black Angel had said on the way to this town that she was in now.

"It seems you have come here through the workings of another. You were doing nothing that could have brought you here.

Maybe you were summoned or maybe someone performed a spell incorrectly. If we found out who did perhaps we can find out how to send you home."

_Was it an accident? Or was it on propose? Does that person even know me?_

Winry sighed and laid her head on the table.

"What do I do know?" she whispering to herself, "am I ever going to get home?"

Al and Ed were busily searching the library for the second time (mostly as an excuse to keep Ed from mutilating that stupid doctor.)

The brothers agreed to start at opposite ends and work their ways toward each other.

Al sighed and returned yet another unhelpful book to the self.

He was more than halfway done and he hadn't found even one thing that was helpful.

Al sighed again.

_Of course I really shouldn't be surprised, _he thought glumly, _when we were researching human transmutation, none of father's books mentioned it. None of master's books mentioned it._

Al glanced down to where Ed was working.

Unlike his brother, Ed wasn't brothering to put things back. he just dropped them on the floor leaving the shelves empty except for the books that he was absolutely sure couldn't help him. But there were few of these, and mounds of books were carelessly dropped on the floor, enough for several children to make castles with.

It wasn't Ed's usually methodical style of searching.

It was more hurried, more desperate.

There were traces of black circles, and al remembered his brother's tossing in bed the night before.

He's even more worried about Winry then I am.

Ed loved Winry.

It seemed to al that he had ALWAYS KNOWN THIS. IF YOU HAD ASKED HIM, HE WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN Able to tell you when he first learned, unless it was their famous fight over who would get to marry her. Later events had only proven him right.

Ed defiantly loved Winry.

And Winry...

The reasons she gave for refusing them.

"Al, I don't love you like that" such a mature response from the then little girl.

"I don't want to marry someone shorter than me."

After Ed had finished ranting, he asked

"What about when I get taller then you?"

"Okay!"

_Well to judge from the conversation Ed and I had with Lin and Rae, they haven't made any progress in their relationship, which is just like them. I wonder if there's anything I can do...?_

"Hey, al?"

"Yes? What is it?"

Rae shifted her feet slightly wondering what to say.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now that she was standing in front of him, while he looked at her, she couldn't figure out what to say.

"Well...I was wondering..."

"Yes?" prompted al.

"What-what do you think of Lin?" blurted out Rae.

Al looked at her, surprised.

"What do I think of her?"

"Yes"

"Well..." he began, "she's nice, but she can be a trouble maker. I mean, sometimes Nii-san can do .likes to do things that kind of evil, but that will usually be because he's mad, or doesn't like that person. Lin will just do it just because she thinks it's funny. But she's not evil. From the beginning she was unhesitant helping me."

Al looked art Rae's expectant face, and knew she was waiting for him to say something else.

Confused, he went on.

"Lin is pretty stubborn, but she finishes what she starts. She admits when b she's been proven wrong.

She wasn't afraid of scar-"I don't think she knows what fear is-"

He stopped at the d4spondent look at Rae's face.

"I suppose that's partly father's fault. He was always telling us to be sure that we had justice on our side. He said IF WE DID, WE'D ALWAYS WIN. Lin would tell him he didn't know what justice was, and then they would fight again."

"Would they do that a lot?"

Rae sighed.

"Every day almost. Mother and I would try to stop them, but-" she sighed again.

"They were both too stubborn! Lin likes to think she's invincible. I'm not sure why, but I think she just decided it was because of belief or something."

"Belief?"

"Well, our father always believed what he was doing was always just, so he would always win. So she thought it was belief.

When she decided that, she decided that the reason that she was losing all those fights-"

"All those?" what she getting into fights on a regular basis?"

Rae shifted her feet.

"Well...yeah."

"Did your parents know?"

"Mother knew, but father didn't. When she tried to tell him he brushed it off, or said he didn't want to hear."

"What she fighting about?" asked al, even though he had a feeling he knew. He knew Lin, and he knew what she would fight for.

Al knew he was right when Rae flushed and looked away.

"Umm..The kids who made fun of me, kids who badmouthed my mother, kids who badmouthed her mother..." she trailed at the confused ,look on his face, the flashed then it hit her. "Oh, that's right you don't know! Lin and I re actually step-sisters. After her mother died, her father married my mother, and we become sisters."

"Oh, I see."

That made sense. And now that he thought about it, when talking about the black plague, Rae had said, "MY mother died."

There was one other thing he wanted to know though.

"How did her mother die?" al asked.

"I think you should ask her that question." Rae responded, then realized something.

Isn't that a rather personal question, so he'll probably wait till they're alone to ask it. And all the best romantic moments happen when people are alone!

Al gave Rae another confused look as she blissfully started to daydream.

He glanced back at Ed, who was almost finished.

The black circles seemed even darker.

Hehe...Rae's been reading too many romance novels. I wonder what world she found those in?


End file.
